Dowel support for pavement joints



March 29, 1966 A. F. CiRONE 3,242,830

DOWEL SUPPORT FOR PAVEMENT JOINTS Filed March 1, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 \VENTOR.

AT TOHNEYS,

March 29, 1966 CRQNE 3,242,830

DOWEL SUPPORT FOR PAVEMENT JOINTS Filed March 1, 1963 2 SheetsSheet 2 INVENTOR} ATTOPNEYS.

United States Patent 3,242,830 DOWEL SUPPORT FOR PAVEMENT JOINTS Alfred F. Crone, Williarnsville, N.Y., assignor to Acme Highway Products Corporation, Buffalo, N.Y. Filed Mar. 1, 1963, Ser. No. 262,159 6 Claims. (Cl. 94-8) This invention relates to improvements in supports for dowels to position the same on the subgrade to extend into adjacent highway slabs after the concrete or other road material is poured, for preventing vertical movement of one slab relatively to the other.

One of the objects of this invention is to provide a dowel support of this type which can be made mainly of steel wire and in which the dowels are held in place by pincer actions on the same by the supporting structure.

Another object is to provide a support for a dowel in which the dowel rests upon a pair of spacer wires at opposite sides of the pavement joint and in which side members are provided which cooperate with the spacer wires to grip the dowel with a pincer action when the side members are swung to space the lower ends thereof apart.

A further object is to provide a dowel support of this type in which the lower ends of the side members are spread apart by a spreader member to provide a gripping action by the upper ends of the side members by the dowel.

It is also an object of this invention to provide the spreader member with means for supporting a center plate.

'In the accompanying drawings:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary side elevation showing dowel supports embodying this invention.

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the structure shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an end elevation thereof, partly in section, on line 33, FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a center plate holder.

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary, sectional view showing a pin for securing the dowel holder to the subgrade of the highway.

My improved supporting structure is shown in the accompanying drawings as supporting a series of dowels 9 which are intended to be arranged crosswise of the joint between adjacent pavement slabs of a highway, to be embedded in the paving material of the highway for the purpose of preventing relative vertical movement of one pavement slab relatively to the other. The particular dowels shown are of oval shape in cross section but they obviously may be of any other cross section.

The dowel support is employed in connection with a pair of wires on each side of the dowel, one upper wire 10 and one lower wire 11 in each pair of wires. The upper spacer wires 10 are arranged to have the opposite ends of the dowels 9 rest on the same.

The dowels are clamped in fixed relation to the upper spacer wires by means of resilient side members 15, which in the construction shown by way of example, are made of wire but which may be made of other material. These sides have upwardly extending stem portions 12 which are welded or otherwise secured adjacent to their upper ends of the upper spacer wire at 14. The upper portions of these sides extend from the welds 14 upwardly at one end of the dowel, then over the dowel and will be held in place downwardly on the other side of the dowel. 'Ilhese downwardly extending ends 16 of each side member may be bent to extend downwardly below the upper spacer wire to the opposite side of the same from that to which the upright stem is welded to the upper spacer member.

From this construction it will be obvious that if the lower end of the stem portion 12 is moved outwardly,

"ice

the upper end of the side frame extending from the spacer wire 10 will move downwardly, for example, by flexing the upper wire 10 about its axis, so that the side frame acts as a pincer in conjunction with the upper spacer wire to securely grip the dowel. The construction of the supporting side members at the opposite end of the dowel is of course identical with that described.

The lower end of each side frame member is welded to the lower spacer wire, for example, as shown at 17.

From the foregoing description it will be obvious that if the lower parts of the side members of the dowel support are swung about the axis of the upper spacer wires 10, then each dowel 9 will be gripped by the two side frames. I have consequently provided means for holding the lower ends of the side frames spaced outwardly from each other and locking them in such position to firmly secure the dowels to the side members. For this purpose I have provided spreading members 20 which may also be in the form of wires. Each of these spreading members extends from the lower end of one side member to the other and is of such length to yieldingly hold the lower ends of the side members outwardly away from each other, thus holding the sides in dowel-gripping positions. For this purpose the spreading member 20 may be suitably secured to the two lower spacer wires 11 in any suitable manner, for example, by bending the same around these wires as shown in the drawings. The ends of each spreader are arranged below the lower spacer members and are then bent upwardly in the form of loops 21 over the top of the spacer member and preferably around the lower welded end of the stem 12, and then from the upper edge of the lower spacer member 11 downwardly and underneath the same as shown at 22. The bending of the ends of the spreader member is effected when the lower ends of the stems 12 are moved outwardly into position to have the side members clamp the dowel.

The spreader members are also preferably provided for mounting the usual center plate of the joint in connection with the dowels, and in the construction shown for this purpose 25 represents the center plate which may be of any usual or suitable construction for positioning between adjacent slabs of pavement which are connected by the dowels. This center plate extends into a slot 26 formed in an upwardly extending plate 27 supported by the spreader 20. In order to firmly support the upright center plate 25 on the spreader this plate 27 is bent upwardly from a base portion 29 of a bracket 28 suitably interlocked with the spreader. For this purpose the spreader is provided with an open loop having two sides 30 and 31 connected by a side 32. This loo-p extends around three sides of the base member 29 of the bracket 28. The side 32 is welded to the bracket as shown at 33 at the juncture of the base 29, and the upwardly extending plate 27. The bracket, which may be made of stamped metal, includes upwardly extending webs 35 at opposite sides of the base member 29 and terminate at their upper ends in outwardly extending wings 34. The two sides 30 and 31 of the loop are arranged at the outside surfaces of the webs 35 and below the wings 34, so as to permit the loop to expand to cause the spreader member to urge the lower ends of the sides outwardly to produce a pincer action in the upper spacer wires and the dowel. By welding the connecting part 32 of the loop to the bracket, as shown at 35, the parts of the fitting will remain in correct position shown in the drawings with reference to the spreader member, so that the plate 27 will properly support the center plate.

By means of the construction described the various parts of the support for the dowels may be readily assembled with the dowels and constitute a rugged structure which can be partly assembled in a shop and transported for further assembly to the highway site on which it is to be used. For example, the wire parts of the frame including the sides 12 and the spacer wires 10 and 11, are assembled in the shop and welded together as indicated, whereupon these parts of the assembly can be nested so as to form a compact package for shipment. When received at the road site these assembled parts are placed on a pair of planks with a slot between them to receive the center plate, and the dowels are then readily inserted into the loops of the side frames. The spreaders are then placed in position while the side members are swung outwardly away from each other, which results in the pinching action on the dowels. The ends of the spreaders are then twisted around the side wires 11 and the side frames 12, whereupon all of the parts of the dowel support are securely held together so that the same can be placed on the subgrade without danger of having any parts become disconnected therefrom. When correctly positioned on the site, the lower spacer wires 11 may \be pinned to the subgrade in any suitable manner by means of pins 37 formed of wire having the upper ends bent over as shown in FIG. 5 to fit over a spacer wire. These pins may be driven-into the ground in the usual manner.

It will be understood that various changes in the details, materials and arrangements of parts which have been herein described and illustrated in order to explain the nature of the invention may be made by those skilled in the art within the principle and scope of the invention as expressed in the appended claims. I claim: 1. A dowel supporting construction for highway including:

a dowel, one pair of wires on each side of said dowel, each pair of wires having an upper and a lower wire, said wires extending parallel to the proposed joint, and transversely of the dowel, said dowel resting on the upper wires, a pair of side members arranged at opposite sides of said dowel with each side member having its upper end looped over said dowel thereby securing said dowel to said upper wires, 1

means securing the lower ends of each of said side members to each of said lower wires,

spreading means connecting the lower end of said side members holding the lower wires and the lower joints end of the side members yieldingly in a position outwardly of the upper wires, such that the looped upper end of the side members grippingly presses the said dowel downwardly against the upper wires.

2. A dowel supporting construction according to claim 1 in which said side members also have the lower portions thereof secured to the lower of said pairs of Wires.

3. A dowel supporting construction according to claim 2 in which the upper ends of said side members above said connection with the upper spacer wires extend up- Wardly along one side of said dowel, then across said dowel and then downwardly along the opposite side thereof.

4. A dowel supporting construction according to claim 1 and including a center plate secured to said dowel for positioning in a joint between slabs of the pavement,

and means secured to' said spreader and said center plate and holding said center plate and dowel in operative relation to said joint.

5. A supporting construction according to claim 4 and including:

a bracket secured to said spreader,

and means on said bracket which support said center plate in operative relation to said joint.

6. A supporting construction according to claim 5 in which the bracket has a base member secured to said spreader,

and an upwardly extending part on said base member which cooperates with said center plate to hold the same in operative relation to said joint.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,167,615 1/1916 Barnes 948 2,319,050 5/ 1943 Fischer et al 9418 2,531,552 11/1950 Brickman 94--18 2,627,793 2/1953 White 948 2,858,749 11/1958 Crone 9417 3,045,564 7/1962 Crone 9417 3,059,553 10/1962 Woolley 9418 FRANK L. ABBOTT, Primary Examiner. HENRY C. SUTHERLAND, Examiner.

J. L. RIDGILL, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A DOWEL SUPPORTING CONSTRUCTION FOR HIGHWAY JOINTS INCLUDING: A DOWEL, ONE PAIR OF WIRES ON EACH SIDE OF SAID DOWEL, EACH PAIR OF WIRES HAVING AN UPPER AND A LOWER WIRE, SAID WIRES EXTENDING PARALLEL TO THE PROPOSED JOINT, AND TRANSVERSELY TO THE DOWEL, SAID DOWEL RESTING ON THE UPPER WIRES, A PAIR OF SIDE MEMBERS ARRANGED AT OPPOSITE SIDES OF SAID DOWEL WITH EACH SIDE MEMBER HAVING ITS UPPER END LOOPED OVER SAID DOWEL THEREBY SECURING SAID DOWEL TO SAID UPPER WIRES, MEANS SECURING THE LOWER ENDS OF EACH OF SAID SIDE MEMBERS OF EACH OF SAID LOWER WIRES, SPREADING MEANS CONNECTING THE LOWER END OF SAID SIDE MEMBERS HOLDING THE LOWER WIRES AND THE LOWER END OF THE SIDE MEMBERS YIELDINGLY IN A POSITION OUTWARDLY OF THE UPPER WIRES, SUCH THAT THE LOOPED UPPER END OF THE SIDE MEMBERS GRIPPINGLY PRESSES THE SAID DOWEL DOWNWARDLY AGAISNT THE UPPER WIRES. 